NBA Africa to honour Madiba through youth development, community service

French President Emmanuel Macron receives a basketball jersey from NBA Africa managing director of Amadou Gallo Fall at the French Louis Pasteur high school in Lagos, Nigeria in July. Photo: Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters

JOHANNESBURG AND NEW YORK – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) have announced a series of youth development, community service and business events in the week leading up to the NBA Africa Game 2018.

The NBA’s third game in Africa will take place Saturday August 4 at 5pm CAT at Sun Arena at Time Square in Pretoria. The game will air live in sub-Saharan Africa on Kwesé Free Sports, Kwesé Sports 1, the Kwesé TV app, as well as Kwesé’s partner pay-TV and free-to-air channels. The game will air live in the U.S. at 11:00 am ET on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes (in Spanish), and the ESPN app.

The week of activities, which will embody Nelson Mandela’s legacy and his belief that sports have the power to inspire and change the world, include the 16th edition of Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa, a Habitat for Humanity service project, a training camp for the boys and girls teams that will represent Africa & Middle East at the first Jr. NBA World Championship, a youth leadership program hosted by the NBPA Foundation for eight students to learn about Nelson Mandela’s legacy and participate in the week’s activities, and the second NBA Africa Innovation Summit.

As part of Wednesday's announcement, the NBA and NBPA also announced the Official Partners of the NBA Africa Game 2018: Brand South Africa (Official Marketing Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018), Econet (Official Telecommunications Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018 and the NBA Africa Innovation Summit), Kwesé Sports (Official Broadcast Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018), Nike (Official Apparel Provider for the NBA Africa Game 2018 and BWB Africa) and SAP (Official Business Analytics Software Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018 and the NBA Africa Innovation Summit).

“We are excited that the week of activities leading up to the third NBA Africa Game in four years will honor Nelson Mandela’s centenary and his belief that sport has the power to change the world,” said NBA vice president and managing director for Africa, Amadou Gallo Fall.

“Our youth development and community outreach programs as well as the second NBA Africa Innovation Summit will demonstrate our commitment to growing basketball across the continent while using the transformative power of our game to foster positive social change. We are grateful to all the players, our partners and our fans for their continued support.”

Basketball Without Borders Africa:

The NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) will conduct the 16th edition of BWB Africa, which will bring together 78 of the top boys and girls from 29 African countries to learn directly from current and former NBA, WNBA and FIBA players, legends and coaches. BWB, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program, begins Wednesday and runs through August 4 at the American International School of Johannesburg. Nike, a BWB global partner since 2002, will outfit the campers and coaches with Nike apparel and footwear.

As part of NBA Africa Game 2018 and BWB Africa efforts, NBA Cares – the league’s global social responsibility program – will host a series of events to leave a lasting legacy in the community. Later on Wednesday, Hoops 4 Hope, a partner on the BWB camp for more than 12 years, will conduct a life skills seminar for all BWB campers, as well as NBA and WNBA players, coaches and legends, using interactive basketball activities to focus on leadership and character development. On Thursday in partnership with the NBPA Foundation, NBA and WNBA players, coaches, legends, executives and guests will volunteer to build 10 homes in Lawley Extension, Gauteng with Habitat for Humanity South Africa. At the completion of this project, the NBA will have created 87 places to live, learn and play in seven countries in Africa.

Throughout the week, the NBPA Foundation will host “More Than a Game”, a youth leadership program for eight students from Chicago and Johannesburg to learn about Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy and participate in the week’s activities. The program will focus on exploring the intersection between basketball and social justice through learning about Nelson Mandela’s life as an activist, statesman and philanthropist. Additionally, NBA players, coaches and guests will visit the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory on Friday and Saturday to learn more about the legacy left by Mandela and his profound influence on sport and society. In honor of the centenary of Nelson Mandela, the NBA Africa Game 2018 will be played in support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The boys and girls teams that will represent Africa and the Middle East at the Jr. NBA World Championship, a first-of-its kind global youth basketball tournament for the top 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls teams from around the world, are participating in a training camp at the American International School of Johannesburg that began on Tuesday and runs through Thursday, before departing for the U.S. later this week. The inaugural Jr. NBA World Championship will take place at the state-of-the-art ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla. from August 7-12.

NBA Africa Innovation Summit:

The second NBA Africa Innovation Summit, which will be hosted at The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Houghton, Johannesburg on Aug. 3 in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Econet and SAP, will once again bring together leaders from business, entertainment, philanthropy, sports, social entrepreneurship, technology and youth development to share and discuss innovative ways of empowering and inspiring youth to drive positive social change in Africa.

The NBA and NBA Physicians Association will host a sports medicine symposium at the Holiday Inn Johannesburg – Rosebank on Friday which will bring together international leaders in orthopedics, sports medicine and performance to highlight best practices in player health and wellness. The symposium will provide an opportunity for participants, including NBA team physicians and athletic trainers, to exchange ideas and develop relationships between the NBA and international experts, with the goal of improving player health and wellness in basketball and across sports.